STAT Plus: Amid fears of superbugs, sales of antibiotics used in food-producing livestock rose last year
In a surprise showing, the sale of medically important antibiotics given to food-producing livestock rose last year, reversing a trend amid concerns such usage can cause antibiotic resistance in humans.
Sales rose 9% in 2018, compared with a 33% drop the year before, according to the latest annual report from the Food and Drug Administration. In particular, sales for tetracycline, which is used to treat a number infections in humans, rose 12%. The medicine was the most widely used antibiotic in livestock, accounting for 66% of all such medicines given to food-producing animals last year.
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